Back in September 2012, Grammy- and Emmy Award-winning jazz-pop singer Harry Connick Jr. told Lehigh Valley Music in an interview that he wouldn’t want to be a judge on “American Idol,” or any other television singing competition because it would be like watching a car crash.

And he said he didn’t think they’d ever ask him.

Connick, then in Bethlehem for Pennsylvania Youth Theatre’s production of “The Happy Elf,” a stage musical based on his song of the same name, said, “I don’t think they really want somebody like me. Maybe one time, but I really don’t think they want me, because it’s really not about music, and I’m about music.

“And I think everybody knows that, but nobody wants a music lesson at 8 o’clock on a Thursday night. They don’t want that.”

Well, two years later, Connick last week started as one of the three judges on “American Idol,” and Connick was right. Apparently the show didn’t want a judge like that.

And unfortunately, Connick has changed for the show.

Harry Connick Jr.

Connick was a celebrity mentor on “Idol” in 2010, and perhaps the best ever on the show, as he gave contestants sound, unvarnished advice and direction.

But hopes Connick would do that as a judge on “Idol” vanished Wednesday with the opening sequence on the new season.

Contestant Mario Sellers, 17, of Detroit was patently bad singing Bruno Mars’ “Grenade.” But Connick opened the judges comments by saying, “You are going to be a nightmare for the other competitors in this competition!”

Boom! Credibility gone.

It gets worse later in the show, when Troy Durden, a twerking joke contestant, not only is let through, but Connick says, “Abso-freakin-lutely!”

We’ll say this: for much of that episode and the second one Thursday, Connick was closest to the voice of reason – the only judge who actually, occasionally, tells contestants they’re not good enough.

For example, on Thursday, when Tristen Langley, the 15-year-old son of ”Idol” Season 1 third-place finisher Nikki McKibben auditions and is painfully average singing Sublime’s “Santaria,” Connick tells him, “If mom weren’t here and the story weren’t here, I can guarantee you it wouldn’t work for me.”

(The other judges still put him through.)

But Connick’s far from earning the “Harsh Harry,” “Hatchet Harry” and “Dr. No” titles given him on the show. Simon Cowell, who made the show a hit and took its soul with him when he left, would have eaten these contestants – and Connick – alive.

At one point in Thursday’s show, Connick told a joke contestant who sang shirtless in red suspenders, “You disrespected the process. There’s people who wait their whole lives for this. Some of the people who auditioned so not belong in this business … sometimes you’ve got to stop the bleeding.”

Well, who’s fault is that? Contestants have to go through several layers of tryouts before they ever reach the celebrity judges, so who are putting these contestants through? No of the other talent competition TV shows – especially NBC-TV’s higher-rated “The Voice” seem to have a problem like that.

But if “Idol” keeps showing them, they’re gonna keep coming.

And it’s especially disingenuous for Connick to complain when he approves a twerking singer before that contestant or the awful, unemployed, clown-red haired, pajama-wearing joke contestant Rico Perkins right after him.

Or when he lets Mario Sellers through but tells Keith London of Hazleton, who made it through Wednesday, “Honestly, I don’t think you’re a good enough singer.”

Give “Idol” this: There are fewer of those joke contestants. The fact that there were only two or so in two hours on Wednesday was really refreshing. And fewer sappy sob-story backgrounds, thank God.

There’s a little less pretense to the show this year. Part of that is that clownish Randy Jackson is finally gone from the judges’ bench, though he’s supposed to show up later this year as a “mentor.”

Production values of the show are far better than they’ve been in years. And there are occasionally the really good contestants. Sam Woolf, 17, on the first night was good singing Ed Sheeran’s “Lego House.”

And Rachel Rolleri, a 17-year-old student from California, on Thursday was really good. When she sang Sugarland’s “Stay,” she had the magic that Kelly Clarkson had in the first season of “Idol.”

But mostly, it all reminds you of how good ”Idol” used to be, and could be this year, if Connick had lived up to his potential.

I wholeheartedly agree with most of your comments. Almost four years ago I suggested Harry Connick would be a great judge but I didn't think they would want him as he is traditional, Jazz, Big Band and classic Pop from the Great American Songbook. True, he tells it like it is but he is getting jibes from Lopez who actually believes she is a diva who knows what she is talking about. The problem is she is music illiterate. I think Harry is trying to get along with her but she continually looks at Urban to go along with her and then it winds up 2 to 1 and the lousy singer gets through. I hope Harry gets his mojo going and really socks it to the no talents!

Posted By: toughcritic | Jan 19, 2014 11:45:10 PM

Connick is all wrong for the show..He takes things too personal and live up to his beliefs and it is not all about him...J-Lo makes excuses for his comments and I am glad she is strong and over ride him..Harry, like Nikki...one year. Have fun

Posted By: sassysamsa | Jan 23, 2014 10:55:16 AM

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JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.